Infinite Gods Reign Supreme

Chapter 44 - The Antidote Must Be Within Ten Steps

The city was freed. People fled and screamed in chaos. But all of this came to an abrupt halt in an instant with a pure light bursting forth from the staff in Jacob's hand.

A white light.

Aside from illumination, it has no other effect, resulting in an exceptionally vast and wide range of white light.

It rose from Jacob's staff like a sun, shining upon every city dweller, whether covered by the Holy Dwelling spell or not. Even those touched by its light felt a warm embrace.

Psychotherapy is ultimately effective.

And a pre-prepared amplification scroll was triggered in his palm.

"Calm down," he said. His voice carried far and wide.

The chaotic crowd instantly fell silent, and the fleeing masses ceased their blind escape. The 'bishop's' voice carried considerable persuasive power and influence at that moment. In an instant, order was restored to the city. And everyone in the square and streets turned their gaze towards him.

They looked at him with anticipation and longing.

Their lifeline and guiding light were right before them, and they eagerly awaited any word he might utter.

"The evil spirits have been repelled, and the city is safe for the time being. But you must still maintain order, and do not quarrel or fight. Gather together as families or companies, and place the injured, the elderly, the weak, or the disabled on the glowing ground. If anyone becomes delirious and sees hallucinations, take him to the glowing ground as well."

The Holy Abode spell can last for a period of time, perhaps three days, or perhaps a little longer. As long as one is within the Holy Abode, evil and dark thoughts are difficult to arise—unless the person is truly beyond redemption. But such a person will naturally be dealt with by virtuous individuals protected and inspired by the Holy Abode.

"And remember, never utter your own name. Nor utter anyone else's name. This evil spirit uses names to harm people's minds. And forget all those ominous hand gestures and incantations."

His authority at that moment surpassed even the emperor's decree. Everyone listened with bated breath. Jacob, for this, revealed a slight smile of satisfaction. Now, it was time to do something of value to the Reincarnators.

“I need to see the local clergy.” He hesitated for a moment, then adjusted his words slightly. “Temple keeper, sorceress, anyone who has the ability to communicate with gods… immortals, I need to see them immediately. If they are here, please come to me immediately, and if anyone knows such people, please introduce me to them immediately. I need to find them… to understand the special situation that this city, this island, is currently facing.”

A murmur immediately arose from the crowd. Before long, a simply dressed middle-aged woman was pushed forward to the reincarnators.

"Gentlemen... esteemed individuals." Her voice was somewhat reserved; clearly, she wasn't adept at interpersonal communication and lacked experience in this area. "My name is Chen..."

An invisible force of thought emerged and silenced her.

Yu Zhiwei raised her hand and made a 'shh' gesture.

“Don’t say the name,” she said, a subtle smile playing on her lips.

This might just be a minor accident caused by nervous tension, but for Si Ming, who understands the rules of the main god's operation very well, a simple coincidence may not be without special significance.

—Chen, an interesting surname. Although it's quite common. But the family that sealed away the Great Black Buddha Mother happens to have the surname Chen.

He thinks, he sees.

The middle-aged woman's face turned pale, and she nodded vigorously several times. She took a deep breath before continuing to introduce herself to the reincarnators.

“I… help out at the Guanyin Temple. I usually assist the person in charge with some rituals… The person in charge, he suddenly died a few days ago.”

He died suddenly from an illness? At this time?
Jacob glanced at the corpses of the cultists, their bodies covered in scripture, which Valentina had slain. Valentina, emerging from the building, swung her rapier, tearing open the shirt of one of the men and sending a small vial flying into her hand.

She glanced at it, and the prosthetic unit implanted in her body immediately began to function as an intelligence unit.

"A potent neurotoxin. And he didn't have any poisoned weapons on him."

It turned out to be the case.

A cacophony of voices rose from the crowd.

"I was wondering why the old temple keeper on East Street suddenly died of illness." "And what about Master Kurong at the old temple... Didn't Master Lingxu also suddenly get into a car accident last month?" "And Master Aqing at Zhouwang Temple, I haven't seen him leave his house for several days..." "Then wasn't Pastor John, who suddenly fell seriously ill last week, also..."

The reincarnators exchanged glances.

It must be admitted that this Great Black Buddha Mother did grasp a key point. If, before taking action, all the agents of the righteous gods were killed by human means, then the righteous gods would find it difficult to act according to proper procedures. Even if such a radical plan quickly revealed its flaws and aroused suspicion, as long as the time difference was successfully created, the evil spirit could achieve its goal.

"It's too humane," Si Ming commented. "Only humans could do something like this. And this should be a special case, otherwise the world would have looked completely different from the beginning."

"It seems that Miss Li Ruonan's connection with the evil spirits is deeper than we anticipated, to the point that they are indistinguishable," Yu Zhiwei said with a charming smile. "How about we make a deal? When we kill her, let the process take a little longer?"

“The food hasn’t even been served yet, so don’t even think about dessert, Miss Traveler.” Jacob glanced at her with a hint of helplessness. Then he continued to ask the middle-aged woman, “Could you elaborate on the situation, madam? Or rather, has the god you serve given you any special instructions?”

The middle-aged woman quickly waved her hands. "No, no! I'm not qualified to perform rituals alone. I... I don't even know if the Bodhisattva has appeared to me in a dream..."

Jacob frowned slightly, but then quickly relaxed. He maintained his gentle smile and nodded to the woman who looked very nervous, and who was indeed very nervous.

"Thank you for your cooperation, ma'am. Please take a rest and have some water. We will contact you if we need any further assistance."

"Okay, okay. Master, I'll go get some water right now, I'll go get some right now..."

She then prepared to leave.

But before that, Si Ming reached out to stop him.

“Please wait a moment,” he said. “Take us to the Guanyin Temple.”

"Professor?" Jacob looked at him with slight confusion, but did not immediately question him, thus revealing the possible instability among the reincarnators.

Didn't we decide from the beginning to go to the Zhouwang Temple first?

“There have been some unexpected circumstances,” Siming replied over the secure communication channel. He looked at Jacob. “Bishop, in your opinion, if we are to perform a divine invocation ceremony here, which god should we invoke?”

“I understand the relevant content.” Jacob had indeed done his research, and he maintained covert communication. “In the eastern coastal area, the most popular deities are Guan Yu, the god of justice and loyalty, and Lin Moniang, the protector of sailors and shipping. Both of them are righteous gods with a very large number of believers, which is perfect for us to borrow their power.”

“That’s true.” Si Ming didn’t deny it. “They are indeed very powerful, but in the current situation, I think Guanyin Bodhisattva’s help in the religious realm is the greatest for us, or rather, for the people of this island.”

Song Tian seemed to understand something, while Valentina listened to the cryptic explanation as if it were a divine pronouncement.

Yu Zhiwei, however, slightly opened her eyes and revealed a smile of approval.

"【Saving from suffering】Guanyin Bodhisattva... Ah, indeed. Those corrupted by evil spirits need salvation and relief from calamity most right now, not the power of righteous revenge. Bishop, you've been surpassed by the professor in terms of professional competence."

“Is that so?” Jacob was slightly taken aback, then chuckled. “I see. Did we miss the details? But Guan Yu is a righteous god we can confirm, capable of interfering in the mortal world. I remember our second choice should be Ksitigarbha, who manages the ghosts of the underworld. Although the temple fair content wasn’t included in the main story, there are precedents to follow, which is better than a blind man trying to feel an elephant with his bare hands?”

This is normally the case.

But this is an abnormal situation.

Si Ming did not answer directly, but simply raised his hand, and a wisp of dark battle qi flowed out. The red rope around the neck of the little girl he was protecting, who had always been very well-behaved, was then gently pulled up.

A pendant appeared before the reincarnators' eyes.

It was a Guanyin pendant made of mutton fat jade, with a warm and lustrous color.

If that were all, it might just be a simple coincidence. So, Si Ming spoke softly to the little girl.

"Little girl, tell uncle, what's your last name?"

The girl's eyes didn't seem very bright. Her eyesight might not be very good. But in the present moment, this undoubtedly explained why she was able to hold out until the Reincarnators appeared before being affected by the cursed ritual.

She remained very well-behaved.

“Guan, my daughter’s surname is Guan.” The voice was clear and crisp, and the tone was brave. And Si Ming’s confidence continued to grow.

Ultimately, this is just a five-player horror world. Therefore, it's obvious that even disregarding the overly simple main quest, in the eyes of the main god, this should be a world that the newly formed celestial team could easily handle without much effort or thought.

“Okay, Guan is a good surname.” Si Ming continued. “Then, let Uncle guess. Is Nannan’s name ‘Shiyin’?”

The little girl looked up in surprise.

"Uncle, you know that Nannan's name is 'Shiyin'! The headmistress said that anyone who can guess Nannan's name is a very kind person!"

Guan Shiyin.

Guanyin (Avalokitesvara)

well.

Si Ming glanced at the others and nodded slightly.

"It seems we've found the person in charge of the invocation ceremony."

(End of this chapter)